Decluttering Thread 3 - Decluttering on bit at a time

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Just realised we filled up Thread 2 without a way to link to this one, can’t see that anyone else has started one?

I did drop back the borrowed boots, go me!

didn’t tackle the umbrella pot/dumping ground though

Dd1 puts her clothes away. We do a big wardrobe declutter a couple of times a year but I haven’t recently been in her underwear / nightwear drawers.

Anyway I just discovered 36 1/2 pairs of white socks! She needs to wear them to school and dd2 used to wear them to her last school, so we do have a lot, but that’s ridiculous. So I’ve left them on her bed with a note to keep 5 or 6! Some are grey rather than white and most don’t fit. I can’t believe adhd dd1 - who likes to live in a mess - has to rummage in a drawer of 50 pairs of socks every day!

@stealthninjamum Snap! I've just been through my DDs shared sock-and-knicker drawer and binned a load of not-so-white school socks and pants with loose elastic. Every time I buy new socks for summer uniform they always complain that they're the wrong length or colour At least at the moment with winter uniform it's just navy tights, no choice!

127 + 21 = 148/2023

I cant wait to be rid of white school socks. Do you think the school dresses would look odd if I kept to the winter black? Although DD2 had mentioned wearing shorts this summer instead...

5 pairs of outgrown pants in the bin.

Plus forgot to post yesterday... a box filled with outgrown puzzles and games. The ones we are keeping fit into the cupboard now.

sydneycarton I wish I could throw the socks away but dds have sensory issues and if I throw the dirty, grey ones away they’ll inevitably be the comfortable ones. Dd1 wears trousers to school so I always make sure her trousers are so long no one can see the dirty socks! (She also still jumps in muddy puddles and climbs trees and regularly splits her trousers so might like the horrible socks). She’s nearly 15!

Roots that's the best feeling when an overcrowded cupboard becomes a regular full cupboard. The sweet relief.

Out this morning is

🌞 a pair of (brand new but minus the tag 😠) joggers that have zero stretch. Zero. And no zip because they're joggers. And they're not wide enough to go past my hips.
🌞 Some packaging that's been lying around for ages (I thought I'd use it for something else but didn't).

Total is 68

We are having major house alterations so being forced to get rid of lots of stuff.
To our shame we have a big walk in cupboard that when we moved in ( 12 years ago ! 😧) we basically bunged a load of boxes into and forgot about them.
80-100 books now gone. 10 coats to charity shop , A few items to antique / junk shop , and bags of stuff to the tip.
Feels good to lighten the load !

4 more bits of packaging hanging around has gone to the bin. Total is 72. A few empties from the bathroom hoard too, satisfied to see it going down.

Welcome Victoria ☺️

stealthninjamum; can you try bleaching the socks?

@IndianSummer78

Thanks for the welcome. Today's ' trip out ' 2 more bin bags of books to the charity shop , a set of 8 wall plates ( what was I thinking ! ) and paid lots of money for / antique of the future , my arse also to charity shop .

Space rack which we stopped using months ago but has sat on the corner of the kitchen is out of the house

Today's dress, which turned out not to suit me any more, has gone to the charity bag. The bag is now full so I'll be taking that to the clothes bank at the weekend. Total is 69.

Last week I emptied out a large tub that had sat in the living-room for months. Used to chuck stuff in there that had been left on the settee eg jerseys, cuddly blankets, packaging. Packaging was put in recycling trolley, clothes into laundry pile, blankets folded on shelf. But most important, huge tub stayed empty and now in storage space.

Did the same this week with the other identical tub. Then moved on to the huge cupboard. Decluttered yesterday -

Three too-small woolly hats.
Board game with missing pieces. cardboard and paper in recycling trolley, plastic in landfill bin.

Board game I'm finished with is going to friend's house.

One princess dressing-up dress destined for rag bag.

Outgrown roller skates and pads for selling.

And last but not least, a cardboard box. Doesn't sound like much, but every time I see a "useful" cardboard box, I keep it and find things to put in it because that's what cardboard boxes are for, in my head. Doing that inevitably involves a bit of churn, and creating new categories. Then I get stressy physical symptoms. This has to stop now.

4 more books
Jumper and cardigan gone to DD

Sorted bedside table drawer and found a pile of old style stamps. There's a grace period until June but I sent them to the swap service at RM for exchange so that was a useful 10 minutes.

I'm retiring in 2 years so I'm trying to wear out stuff I'm not keen on for work and haven't bought work jackets or shirts for a while now. I'm looking forward to a big clear out then!

Also making good progress using up beauty products - I'm determined not to buy any more serums/moisturiser/oils until I've used it all up

One jumper that I don’t wear anymore into the charity bag this morning - I pulled it out of the drawer while looking for a jumper I did want to wear and thought ‘Why am I keeping this?’ So now it’s in the bag!

What is the swap service please?

Beautiful Day old stamps are obsolete. You need ones with barcodes on them now. Google and it'll tell you where to send the old ones, they post you back the new ones. You can't do it in a post office.

I don't know what to declutter next 🤔

There is a 6 month grace period until 31 7 21 - attached from Royal Mail website

I sent mine back as I use so few stamps these days. It's a form to print off then to a free post address

Thanks sueelleker in the end dd1 chucked out 30 1/2 pairs of socks and the ones left are in quite good condition.

Today I took two bags of toys, plastic plates and books to the charity shop. I’ve also put a hand cream in the car as I seem to spend ages in the car doing nothing waiting for dc.

Before I do the school run I’m intending to sort through playmobil and Lego although maybe I should just sell it by the bucket?

Thanks for posting about stamps withiceplease I’m sure I have stamps somewhere that I should swap.

Thank you. So do I take them to the post office?

No. Send them off

One too small coat out today so far. Total 70

20 packs of dried noodles which DP bought from the Chinese supermarket
1 pack of leftover chocolate Christmas tree baubles
1 pack of banana-flavoured milk straws which my DC don't like

All taken by SiL for her DDs

148 + 22 = 170/2023

@TidyClutterIsStillClutter Hard relate on the "useful" cardboard boxes! We have so many little fiddly bits hanging around, like Lego or Playmobil sets with a dozen or so separate pieces and I always think a box of the right size would be great to contain this particular set, instead of thinking "Do we still need this?"

Went hard at the conservatory today. One bin bag of broken pencils, used notebooks, craft bits, dried up pens etc gone. Few more bits in donation box.
Barbie Megablocks to MIL for DN this summer.

Found my hair straighteners in a box of lego!

Also located the conservatory floor😂

My very full-on work week has continued, and no decluttering. The house is like a bomb site. I did break 3 more clothes pegs today which I'm not sad about as I have a million. 90 items gone but I don't want to count how many I've brought in.

Will do some cleaning and decluttering tomorrow

Hopefully the drawers are going today. Fingers crossed.

have also listed our old dining table onto fb.